Awake and Alive
by Kaia-Rhea
Summary: Late one night, Temperance Brennan is date-raped, and powerful memories are brought back from the darkened crevices of her memory. Who will be the one she turns to for help?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Okay, hi!  
This is my first 'Bones' story... Please don't be too harsh! But constructive crit is always welcome.**_

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_I'm at war with the world _

_And they try to pull me into the dark._

_I struggle to find my faith,_

_As I'm slipping from your arms._

The doorbell's hollow ring sounded for the third time within a few minutes, and after sighing to herself and grumbling under her breath, Angela slid out of bed and shrugged her thin dressing gown onto her small shoulders.

The doorbell rang once again, causing her to quicken her pace down the hallway.

"All right, I'm _coming_!" She mumbled, as if the person at the door could hear her from behind the thick wood.  
Yanking the door open, Angela was prepared to launch straight in to a speech on what times were and weren't appropriate to come calling- 3am definitely _not _falling in to the first category.  
Instead, her mouth dropped open as her eyes took in the sight of her best friend, stood slightly hunched before her. Her hair was loose and hung around her shoulders in sweaty strands and a thin slither of blood dripped down from a cut on her lip. Around her eye, a bruise was slowly starting to form, only the ghost of a painful mark that was yet to come.

"Oh, sweetie..." Angela extended an arm and held her hand out to her dishevelled friend, but Temperance ignored the friendly gesture and instead stood panting, leaning against the door frame. "What happened to you?" Her friend shook her head, sliding down the frame a little. Angela moved quickly and slid an arm under her small frame to stop her from falling, and gently steered her inside her apartment, moving to sit her down on the couch.  
Kneeling in front of her, she put her hands on Brennan's knees -only to remove them when she flinched away from the touch- and looked up into her friend's eyes.

"Sweetie?" Her friend lifted her gaze, and dark, sympathetic eyes met her own lighter and piercing ones.

"Can I... Use your shower?" Temperance's voice was so meek and quiet that Angela could barely hear it.

"Sorry?" She repeated herself, and the darker haired girl put her head on one side, her eyes widening as the realisation began to dawn on her. She looked up and down her friend's body, noticing the dirt smeared on her bare skin and the button that was missing from her blouse. A tear trickled down her cheek as her despondent friend sat staring at her interlocked fingers, and she wiped it away hurriedly, knowing Brennan needed someone strong at that moment.

She should have known that something was up when her friend told her she was going out that night; a night on the town was hardly her favourite thing to do. Angela had assumed that she was going for a meal with someone she had met online, and her heart froze in her ribs as she realised that if her assumptions were correct, then this was all her fault.

'Why did I have to show her that dating site?' She cursed herself as she draped the throw that usually rested on the back of her sofa across her friend's shoulders.  
Neither one of them had answered the other's question, so Angela decided to try and get a confirmation- she could be completely wrong after all.

"Temperance," The other woman looked up, a look of almost surprise lined in her features. Angela barely ever called her by her first name.  
"I know it's hard, sweetie... But I really need you to tell me what's going on here. I'm starting to get really worried..."

"It's reasonable that you would be worried by my appearance..." Brennan's voice was louder that time. Angela forced out what she hoped would be a comforting one.

"Yeah, I know. Okay, how about this. I'll ask you some questions, and you can just nod or shake your head. Okay?" Temperance nodded, trying to return the smile only to have it crumble from her face like a biscuit.  
"Good girl. Okay, do you remember someone attacking you?" Her friend declined her head slightly.  
"Was it a man?" _Yes.  
_"Did he hit you?" _Yes. _Angela took a deep breath, steeling herself for the question she knew she had to ask.  
"Did he... Did he rape you?" Brennan shook her head hard, turning so she wasn't looking at her best friend. Angela sighed, and, placing a hand on Temperance's cheek, very gently turned her head to look at her again. Her blue green eyes filled with tears.  
"Oh, sweetie. It's okay, you can tell me. Did that bastard do something like that to you? Did he rape you?"

"Y-yes." She stuttered. After a few minutes of silence, she wiped a tear away from her cheek, she shrugged Angela's hand off. "Can I have a shower now? Please?"

"Well if you really want to, you know I won't stop you. But I think we should get you to the hospital first. You know that any... Evidence will be washed away if you shower, right?"

"I know. But I... I feel dirty."

"C'mon sweetie. I know you can be brave for me. You've done it before, remember? In New Orleans, after..." She didn't finish her sentence. "Oh, and when that guy Kenton tied you up and was about to kill you? You came straight back to work afterwards, you were so strong. You can do this too."

"That was different. Death ends everything. What this guy did was... Different."

"Sweetie, I know. But you know how important it is to catch criminals, right? You help to catch them every day." Temperance looked up along the hallway towards her friend's bathroom, and then back at Angela. She sighed.

"All right. All right, I'll do it. But... Can I have shower after that?" Hope and longing glimmered in her eyes.

"Good girl. Okay, come on then. Can you stand?"

"I think so..." Angela slipped an arm around her friend as she got to her feet, slightly wobbly in her stance.

The pair started off towards the front door, both gritting their teeth at the prospect of what they knew was to come.

"Angela?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Don't you think you should put on some clothes on first?"

* * *

"Are you ready for this?"

The drive to the hospital had been undertaken in a silence that, had the two colleagues been only acquaintances and not friends, could have been viewed as a tense and awkward one, like the fog that hangs heavily in the air just before a storm.

But to them, the silence was only in place only because they knew that there was nothing either one of them had to say to the other; their friendship was bound together by such bonds that it was certainly possible for there to be a silence that did not need filling with mindless and worthless small talk in an attempt to seem friendly.

"Yes. Well, I think I am." Together they stepped through the big double doors in to the usually busy life of the Emergency Room.

It was hardly surprising that, at two 'o' clock in the morning most of the seats were empty, only a few patients scattered among them.

"Come on, let's go speak to reception." Angela murmured as she watched her friend tense up under the stares of the nosy inhabitants of the room. They crossed over to the front desk, where a bored and stern looking woman was nose-deep in a book.

"Yes?" The woman's voice was sharp and held a no-nonsense tone to it, and she spoke without looking up from her book. Angela leant on the desk, grasping her friend's hand in her own.

"Hi, this is my friend, Temperance Brennan. We need to see a doctor." The receptionist sighed.

"Yes, well that's generally the reason people come here. What appears to be wrong with your friend?" The darker haired woman leant further over the desk so she could avoid being overheard by one of the other patients close by.

"She was raped not long ago." The woman behind the desk looked up quickly, staring up at the pair through the glasses that were perched precariously on the end of her nose.

"Right. Well, I'll let someone know that they need to come and see you as soon as possible." Sympathy traced over her now softened features as she pushed a clipboard across the desk to them.

"Until then, I'll need you to fill out this form as accurately as you can, and then return it to me." Angela picked up the form and flashed a brief, insincere smile at the sympathetic receptionist.

"Thanks." She led Temperance over to a couple of seats as far away from the other patients as possible, and pushed back a lock of hair from her face. In her hurry to get her friend to the hospital, she hadn't had the time to brush her hair.

"There's a spelling mistake." Brennan mumbled, peering round at the yellow coloured form.

"Sorry?" She pointed to the word that her carefully trained eyes had picked out from the tangle of letters.

"There. Allergies should be spelt 'ie', not 'ei'. Maybe it's a typing error…" She became lost in her thoughts, and Angela watched her for a moment.

How was it that less than an hour beforehand she had been assaulted, and now she was correcting spelling mistakes?

"You okay sweetie?" Her friend nodded; and after sighing deeply, Angela screwed the lid off the cheap biro pen the receptionist had given her, and began to fill out the form, giving away the bits and pieces of information of her friend's life that made her who she was.

Name, date of birth, occupation, next of kin…

"Hey, do you want me to put Russ as your next of kin?" She shook her head, staring down at the floor.

"No, there's no point in doing that. He's on an annual fishing trip with friends." Angela thought back to the time when Brennan and Hodgins had been buried underground. They had been unable to get in contact with her brother then because he had been out on a fishing trip.

"Do you want me to phone him anyway and leave a message on his answer machine or with his girlfriend?"

"No, I don't want to worry him." The darker haired woman turned in her seat to look properly at her best friend.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure he'd want to know… Wouldn't you wanna know if it was him in hospital?" She shrugged.

"It's not the same. Anyway, he probably won't be back for a couple of weeks. It's fine, Angela." Temperance insisted, still looking down at the floor. A man sitting opposite them on the seats across was staring at her, and she shifted uncomfortably at his gaze. Her head suddenly snapped up.

"I'm sorry, is there something you wanted?" Impatience and a hint of anger tinged her tone, and Angela put a comforting hand on her arm. The man only leaned further forward, squinting slightly in order to get a better look at her face.

"You been in the wars a bit haven't you?" He let out a short, barking laugh. Brennan shook her head slightly, glaring back at the middle-aged man who was cradling a badly bruised hand.

"No? What're you here for then?" As silence filled the air, the man continued to speak. "I think I've broken my hand. I fell comin' home from the pub."

"Oh, so that's where the odour is coming from." His recipient replied sharply, referring to the bitter smell of alcohol that lurked in the air.

"Sweetie!" Angela gripped her friend's arm a little tighter, knowing how unlike her it was to snap at someone in that way. The man barked with laughter again.

"Ooh, we've got a feisty one here then! So what, did you get yourself beat up for snapping at someone like you did just now?" Another shake of the head, this time a more imploring one from Angela. The man leaned forward further still, looking as though he were about to fall off his chair.

"You oughta watch that pretty little mouth of yours sweetheart." His breath stunk of alcohol. "You might get yourself in trouble for it."

Temperance stood, and walked away from the slightly intoxicated man, limping slightly.

"Oh, and one more thing," She turned round again, her pale eyes biting into the man's. "Your wrist isn't broken. The way you moved your fingers just then without showing any indication of being in pain suggests that it's just a bad sprain."  
She turned again, and walked off steadily in the other direction.

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**_A/N: That wasn't too abysmal was it?  
Sorry if it seems a little rushed, I have rather urgent matters I must attend to. _**


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Oh wow, according to my Story Stats thing over 250 of you have read (or at least clicked on) my story! Thank you all for taking an interest!  
Also, thanks to those of you who have favourited or put it on Alert, and an absolutely **_**massive ****_thank you to my reviewers; Fairy Demon26, Miss P, daffodil101, broall and Michalice W. You guys are just great for bothering (:  
If you've favourited (and I know a lot of you have, or at least put it on story alert), please do review as well. It does literally only take a few seconds, and even if you're not great at reviewing (I know I'm not!), then just leave me a sentence or two to make me happy._**

_**Anyway, to answer daffodil's question: Yes, we will indeed see Booth in the next chapter or so. So keep tight, keep reviewing, and I really hope you keep enjoying.  
This chapter's in Angela's point of view.  
Thanks! (And sorry for the long A/N!)**_

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_It's getting harder to stay awake,_

_And my strength is fading fast._

_You breathe in to me, at last._

"Temperance Brennan?" We looked up in unison. A young, pretty nurse stood at the doorway to the main part of the ED, which sectioned off into lots of different cubicles and examination rooms.  
She was looking all around the room, her searching eyes trying to pick out a likely face from the few bits of information she had from the notes she held in her hand.  
Her gaze settled on Brennan's, and for a moment time seemed to lock into place, seconds dribbling past like a hazy fog that pressed down on her shoulders.  
I stood, and held a hand out for my friend to take. This time, she welcomed the gesture, and as I helped her to her feet her breathing became more erratic as she attempted to steady herself.

"Would you like to come through here please?" The nurse's tone was bright, and in the form of a question- although it wasn't one we could really refuse. The nurse showed us through to examination room three, where a woman with dark hair in her late thirties was sitting on a swivel chair, her brow furrowed as she read through a copy of the notes.  
Upon our arrival, she looked up and gave us what I presumed must be her most reassuring and consoling smile.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Simmons. I'm one of the hospital's rape and sexual assault specialists." She extended a hand to me, a courteous but seemingly unnecessary considering the circumstances. I shook her hand nonetheless, and she motioned towards a mousy looking woman standing in the corner whom I hadn't previously noticed.

"This is my assistant, doctor Haley Roads." Simmons offered her hand to Tempe, who just blinked at the outstretched fingers as if they were foreign objects. The doctor didn't seem to take any offence by this, and only renewed her smile.

"You must be doctor Brennan."

"Yes." The answer was short, and Simmons' smile faltered slightly as she turned to me.

"Are you a friend?" I tried to return her smile.

"I'm Angela Montenegro. Temperance is my best friend."

"I see. And were you the first person she contacted following the alleged assault?" My smile faltered at the word 'alleged'- it was as if she were implying that Brennan was making it all up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her flinch for the same reason.

"Um, well yeah. She turned up at my apartment." Roads began scribbling something down in a notebook with a plain black cover.  
Evidence for the police.

"I see. How long ago was that, roughly?"

"About an hour ago now, I guess."

"And when she arrived how would you say-" Standing beside me, Tempe had become more and more agitated as we spoke, and finally she burst out, cutting doctor Simmons off mid-sentence.

"I can talk for myself you know!" She snapped, immediately recoiling back into her shell as soon as the words had left her lips, still bloodied from the cut. Simmons turned back to her.

"Of course, doctor Brennan. I'm sorry if I offended you, it's just I need to-"

"Collect all the evidence, I know." She sounded tired, and her voice remained emotionless after her outburst. "I do it every day for work."

"Then you'll know how important it is. Do you think you're ready for this?" She nodded shakily, gripping my hand tightly as though I could suddenly fly both of us out of the window, away from all of this.

"Y-yes." She stuttered. The doctor smiled reassuringly.

"Okay, let's get started then. Don't worry, we won't hurt you. Just concentrate on getting through this and it'll be over before you know it." Somehow, I doubted that last sentence. I was sure that, however fast the rape kit was completed, it would seem like an eternity to Tempe.  
"For identification purposes, I'm not allowed to touch your clothing, so I'm gonna need you to undress yourself, okay?" A slow nod. "You can take your time; there's no rush. Nurse Taylor has gone to get you a gown to wear." We both knew there was no point in her explaining as Brennan already knew how these examinations were handled, but we listened patiently anyway.  
Taking a firmer hold on my arm to steady her stance, she leaned down to slip her shoes off, before very slowly starting to undo her maroon coloured blouse, fingers fumbling on the pearly buttons. I tried not to gasp or allow any indication of shock to pass my expression as she shakily dropped her shirt to the ground, uncovering the various patterns of bruising that were spread along her ribcage and lower back.  
I had seen Brennan with bruising before; after all she was hardly a careful person when it came to chasing down criminals, but I had never seen her body battered to this extent. She looked up at me, her eyes shining, and I gave her the warmest smile I could conjure from my stilled heart. As though encouraged, she took a deep breath and started to unbutton her black trousers, allowing them to fall to the floor. Tempe stood shivering in the middle of the room, clad only in her underwear and a lone tear dribbling down her cheek.  
As though she sensed that my friend was finished undressing, doctor Simmons span back round in her chair from where she had tactfully turned away to give Temperance a little of the privacy she had left.

"All done?" Another warm smile graced her lips, and she got to her feet. "Now, my assistant is going to take some photographs of your injuries if that's okay. It'll help the police with their enquiries.

"Okay." Brennan's voice was ore confident now, as if she had regained some control of her usual self. She turned to me, brushing away another tear with the back of her hand. "Can Angela stay?"

"Sure, if that's all right with both of you." I nodded.

"Of course it's all right. I wouldn't leave you!" I said the last part quietly so that only Tempe could hear, hoping that it would make her feel a little bit better. Doctor Simmons's assistant came forward, sporting a large self printing camera- a bit like the old polaroids. She started giving directions to Brennan; telling her to lift her arms, to stand with her feet apart, all the while snapping pictures with her camera at the various sites where my friend had received injury.

"Hold out your hands please." From her voice, it sounded as if the assistant was nervous, as if this was her first time doing such a thing. Or maybe it was because no matter how many of these cases she helped doctor Simmons with, she still couldn't grasp the fact that it could happen so often.  
That's how I felt after a few months working at the Jeffersonian. I frequently wondered how so many people could even _hurt _another human being in the ways that we had seen from some of our cases, let alone murder them in cold blood.  
After a moment's Simmons, Tempe held her hands outwards, her palms facing upwards. There were ligature marks on both her wrists, indicating that she had been tied up. I shuddered, a cold shiver running down my spine like icy water. Doctor Simmons continued to make notes in her file, her facial expression now tied up in a frown, her lips straight and her brow creased as if she was concentrating too hard.  
Once all the necessary photographs had been taken, the assistant backed in to a corner from where she had stood for the majority of the time we had been in the room, and her boss came forward to take her place, handing her a hospital gown to slip over her head. I helped her to tie it up at the sides.

"Okay, we're done taking photos. You're doing so well, I'm so proud of how brave you're being." Brennan stiffened, and I bit my lip. She wasn't exactly fond of people who acted in a patronising way towards her, and although her doctor meant well, it seemed she couldn't help but seem a little condescending.

"How much longer will this take?" I cut in before she could lash out a bitter retort as she was sometimes known to do. Doctor Simmons turned to face me.

"Well it depends on what we find. We still need to do an internal examination, and make an assessment of whether or not we think this actually a case of rape or sexual assault." Finally, her patience broke.

"You think I've made this all up?" I took her hand again and squeezed it gently, but she didn't seem to want an ally at that time.

"No, of course not!" Simmons was quick to defend her words. "I'm sorry if it came off that way, but in order for the police to start searching we need to be _certain _that this was a sexually motivated attack." I was starting to grow annoyed at the doctor's apparent ignorance.

"So you think that all of this" I indicated to my friend's bruised ribs and to the dried blood that still clung to her skin. "Is made up? Just a fairy tale?" Doctor Simmons raised her hands in submission.

"I apologise profusely if I sounded tactless or in disbelief in any way. I understand that this is a very difficult time for you and your friend," I couldn't be sure to whom she was addressing this apology, but her eyes flicked between both of us in turn. "And from what we've seen today, there is enough battery alone to press chargers- I assume you both knew this?" I nodded slowly. "But we need to be able to say that rape was involved in order for the perpetrator's sentence to be determined, and in order to do that we need to do an internal examination." Temperance suddenly leaned into me like a once beautiful flower that was in the process of wilting, only a shadow of what it had once been. I put an arm around her shoulders, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear so it wouldn't get on her nerves.

"Just do what you must to get sufficient evidence." Her tone was worn and she sounded exhausted. Doctor Simmons nodded, still unsmiling.

"Of course. We'll do everything we can. I need you to get up on the bed, please. Make yourself comfy, I'll be back in a second." She left the room, followed closely by her assistant.

"She shouldn't have said that." I placed a hand on her bony shoulder as she settled down on the bed, still a little shaken.

"She's just trying to do her job efficiently. I shouldn't have been so critical of her." I opened my mouth to reply, only for a cell phone to start ringing. Before I could protest, she had it up to her ear.

"Brennan." She answered the phone with her surname as always.

"You know you shouldn't really use that in here." The nurse made herself known again, and I rolled my eyes at her attempt to reprimand my friend. Tempe just ignored her.  
I could hear Booth talking over the phone- he didn't sound pleased.

"Bones, where the hell are you? I'm at your apartment; I'm 'sposed to be picking you up to take you to interrogate the uncle, remember?" He was referring to the family member of the victim whose death we had recently been investigating.

"Oh, yeah." Brennan's voice was uncharacteristically quiet and uninterested.

"So where are you? The Jeffersonian?" She ran a stressed hand through her hair, glancing up at the clock on the wall.

"I'm in hospital." She admitted. The tone of Booth's voice changed immediately.

"Hospital? Wait, what happened? Are you okay?" Deciding to take some of the pressure from my friend's shoulders, I slid the cell phone from her grasp, pressing it to my own ear.

"Hey, Booth? It's Angela.

"Angela, what's goin' on?" The merest hint of urgency lingered in his normally calm and collected voice.

"We'll talk about it when you get here, okay?" Don't worry, everything's going to be fine." I said the last part more to comfort myself than Booth or Brennan. I knew that neither of them would but my terrible excuse for a consolation; Brennan was far too logical and analysed everything, and I figured that Booth would probably imagine the worst case scenario where his beloved partner was involved.

"Drive safe, okay?" I hung up, leaving Booth to talk to a hollow dial tone, and handed the phone back to Temp. She attempted a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Ange." I placed a hand on her back, tracing her delicate spine and sitting by her side on the bed to try and comfort her.

"Are you tired?"

"Yes, I am... I haven't slept since yesterday." She put her head on my shoulder, and sighed. "I'm sorry I woke you. It's just that I didn't know who else to go to." Brushing back a lock of her from her face, I cupped her cheek and looked in to her eyes.

"You know what? I'm really glad you _did _wake me, sweetie. But can I ask you something?"

"Of course; as long as it's something reasonable that I can theoretically answer."

"Why didn't you go to Booth? I mean, he's always been the one to help you out in times similar to this before..." She shrugged.

"With Booth, he's all about justice. I love that I have my own knight in shining armour..." She looked up at me, her pale eyes glassy. "But I didn't need a knight in shining armour. I needed a friend." She looked away again, as if ashamed for her words. "And you're my _best _friend, so it seemed logical to go to you. Does that make sense?"  
I nodded. It made all the sense in the world, and I was glad that she felt she could trust me so much.

I suddenly imagined what would happen when Seeley discovered his Temperance lying in a hospital bed, bruised, battered and brutalised.

Pictures of his face when I broke the news to him filled my mind; of him breaking down, getting angry, hot tears slipping down his face.

And it made me want to cry.

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_**A/N: I know there's probably some mistakes... I dunno if any of you spotted this (and why the hell am I even pointing it out to you?) but it's kinda weird that Booth came to pick Bones up at 3am... But hey ho!**_

_**So yeah, sorry about that!**_

_**Still, hope you enjoyed it! I worked hard to make this video :D  
Don't forget to review, huh? Go on, make me happy.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: I'm actually overcome with the amount of reviews I've received! Thank you all SO much! :D I love you guys, I really do.  
Oh, and also, I have a message for Suki: Why read two chapters of my story before deciding it's not to your taste and proceeding to review telling me so? It's be fine if you'd given me something constructive on how to improve my writing, but all you did was flame. FanFiction's all about unleashing your imagination (hence the slogan), and that's exactly what I've done.  
Some people deal with horrible things this way, and I'm one of them. I'm afraid that's something you're going to have to deal with if you continue to use this site. I clearly stated in the description of this story that it involved rape, so don't come crying to me when you read something you don't like!**_

_**Okay, rant over. Sorry about that! I guess I should have said that I don't want any flames- I've never been too fond of fire :P  
Um, someone asked me what time this is set. The answer is, I'm not really sure, but Angela isn't with Hodgins yet and Booth obviously isn't with Hannah.  
Anyway, enjoy chapter three! This chapter involves a description that will lead up to rape (no actual intercourse is involved in said description); I'm going to put that part in italics (it will be the second part in italics not including this A/N and the lyrics at the beginning of the chapter.) So go ahead and skip it if it's not your cup of tea (there Suki, ya happy? :P)  
Thanks for reading!**_

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_I'm awake, I'm alive,_

_Now I know what I believe inside._

_Now it's my time,_

_I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life._

_Angela  
_"Okay, Doctor Brennan." Simmons re-entered the room just as Tempe was drifting off to sleep. "We're going to place an IV," She continued, turning her back on us to collect some medical supplies. "We'll give you some fluids to avoid some dehydration, and pain medication if you want it. You must be in a lot of pain." Brennan nodded sleepily, lying back on to the bed and not even flinching as two needles were poked through the skin on her arms, and bags filled with transparent liquid were attached.

"How long would it take for the pain relief to work?" I asked, watching as my friend's body language gave away subtle hints of the pain she was in. Clenching her hands, gritting her teeth. At the best of times she was difficult to read, but at that moment anyone could see she was hurting.

"They're usually pretty quick." Roads stepped in to answer my question. "It should only take a minute or two before they begin to take effect. I nodded, raising a hand to stroke Brennan's hair and leaning down to kiss her soothingly on the forehead.

"Okay?" I whispered, so only she could hear. As if she were the only one who mattered, the only one who _deserved _to matter.

"Yeah." She whispered back, taking hold of my hand as her doctor asked her to put her feet up on to the stirrups at the foot of her bed.

"Now I'm just going to lift your gown, okay?" A nod. Stroking her cheek with my thumb as she shut her eyes, I watched as Doctor Simmons muttered a few preliminary observations for Roads to make note of. I only heard smatterings of the various sentences that were uttered, but they were enough to turn my stomach- "Blood loss" and "Bruising" being two of the lighter ones. I kissed the top of Brennan's head again as Simmons took swabs of blood and what I presumed to be semen, and bagged them to send to the lab.

"Okay, you're doing _really _well Doctor Brennan. Nearly done now, I just need to have a quick look inside your cervix. Is it all right if I go ahead with that?"

"Y-yes." Temperance coughed, tears running freely down her cheeks. Making no effort to wipe them away, she gripped my hand tightly in her own, choking out a restrained sob.

"That's it, sweetie." I murmured in her ear. "Let it all out."

* * *

_Temperance  
Some things in life we are bound to forget.  
Like the name of a particularly monotonous book or a neighbour's birthday.  
We forget these things because in the backs of our minds, they are not prominent enough to stand out like a dancer in the spotlight._

_Other memories grasp on to our weaknesses and lodge themselves in the deepest and dustiest corners of our brains.  
Like the remnants of a storm that hasn't quite settled, these memories take hold of us and prepare themselves to claw their way out and stun us in to remission at any given moment._

_Any time that you allow yourself to contemplate how your life could have been different and explore the deeper feelings that you usually confine to the put of your stomach, they pounce, attacking with all the force and brutality of a ravenous beast on the prowl for its destitute prey.  
__  
_As I drifted in and out of sleep, only vaguely aware of what was going on around my bedside, I contemplated all the things that I knew I shouldn't, for risk of going insane. Hazy images filled my head as I lay there, of both the past and the present. I pictured the things that, a long time ago, would have given me nightmares, but I was far too used to them by that time.  
In the course of my lifetime, I had learnt that in order to stay mentally intact, you have to detach yourself. Being rational and logical was never a life choice for me- I had been that way as long as I could remember, but it certainly aided me in my search for relief against the limbic padlock and chains I frequently found myself struggling against.

All of a sudden, a voice floated in to my system, filling up the gaps of my mind. Growing confused, I tried to work out who it had come from- only to hear it speak my name again.

"Temperance?" The voice was low-pitched, meaning that it was man. So it couldn't be Angela. All the hospital staff had called me 'Doctor Brennan', so presumably it wasn't them. No, this voice was familiar, but my powers of deduction appeared to be asleep at that time. The only way I could solve the mystery was to open my eyes… Open my eyes…

Booth leaned over me, his concerned look boring though my chest and in to my heart. I tried to smile, unable to think what had happened to me. Did I faint? Was Booth just coming to get me to interrogate someone?

As though I had conjured it, the reality of what had really happened crashed in to my skull, filling every spare inch of my sanity with insanity, taking no prisoners and holding no mercy. _I had been raped. _How had it happened? I was trained in several different self defence arts, and yet someone had still managed to invade my privacy.

At that moment, I felt no rational explanation, nor logic to comfort and soothe my aching brain with. Usually, I could find solace knowing that these things happen with some deeper meaning, but this time it seemed like all taking my innocence had achieved was a few minutes of ecstasy for whoever had done that to me. I was just a tool, like I had been many years before.  
I had promised myself I would never let anything like that happen again, which was precisely the reason I had worked so hard to become skilled in the martial arts. But I had failed myself, allowed someone to use me in that way- and at that moment, when grief and bad reasoning filled me, I hated myself.

"Hey, don't cry Bones. It'll be all right, you'll see…" Booth brushed away the tears that I hadn't even noticed, and enveloped me in a gentle hug. From over his shoulder I saw Angela standing near the doorway of my hospital room, biting her nails. It had been a habit she had long ago tried to rid herself of, but in a crisis I knew her to go back to these old comforts the way a small child will go to its stuffed animal in the hopes it will bring them some kind of release. I coughed, once, twice.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm here to see you, of course! Have the police spoken to you yet?" I looked over at Angela. Why hadn't he asked her these questions? As though he'd read my expression, he spoke again.  
"I only just got here from your apartment. I had to stop for gas or I'd have broken down, so Angela hasn't filled me in yet." I nodded.

"No, we haven't spoken to the law enforcement yet. The doctor gave me something for the pain I was experiencing, and it made me feel a little fatigued. I think they're planning on interviewing me and Ange later though…" I trailed off; staring up at the clock that was not dissimilar to the one I had seen in the examination room. Only this one seemed to be broken, the second hand clicking backwards and forwards over and over rather than continuing on its journey around the clock face. Booth followed my gaze, staring up at the wall above Angela's head. After a few moments, he spoke again.

"Well, are you feeling better now? Do you think you're up to talking to them soon?"

"Booth," Angela cut in. "Don't push her too much, she's had a pretty rough night." Seeley squeezed my hand.

"It's a good job she's tough then isn't it?" He looked in to my eyes. "Look, I know it's hard, and if you're not ready then that's fine. But the quicker we get all the details-"

"The quicker you can find the guy who did it." My voice was pretty much emotionless. "Yeah, I get it."

"Right, of course you do. Just let me know, okay?" I took a deep breath.

"I'm ready now." Angela came to sit on the side of my bed with me.

"And you're sure?" She asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I nodded.

"It seems illogical to keep putting it off just because it might be difficult for me." I reasoned, and they both nodded, Booth getting to his feet.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go put a call in to-"

"No!" I begged. "Can't you do it?" My eyes filled with tears again.

"Um… Well…"

"Please, Booth." Angela pulled me closer, and I rested my head on her shoulder. "I don't want to talk to anyone else right now."

"I don't know if that would be a very good idea Bones… Are you sure?" I nodded quickly, and he sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Maybe it would be better if you knew the facts anyway, Booth. Then you'd have a better idea of who to look for." Angela's logic made sense, and I nodded to show I agreed with her.

"I guess you're right. I just thought it might be a bit hard for you to talk to me about something like this. But of course I'll do it if you want me to. I just need to place a few calls first."

"Okay." He turned to leave, only to spin on his heel again and plant a kiss on my cheek before exiting the room. I took another deep breath, and allowed Angela to lie me back down on the bed, stroking my hair away from my face.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I closed my eyes. Why did they keep asking me the same question? I touched the spot on my cheek where Booth's lips had brushed my skin.

"I'm sure. Will you stay here with me?"

"Sure, sweetie. I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to."

"Okay. Well... I don't. I... I think it might be of important value to me for you to stay with me at this time." My voice felt different. I felt it hard to speak with the logic my voice normally held had faded away, and it was hard to seem normal.

"Okay, we're all set." Booth entered the room a few minutes later. He took a seat beside my bed, and set up a little microphone to record the interview with. "Normally we'd have to do it in one of the hospital's conference rooms, but I got permission for us to do it in here. I thought it might be more comfortable." I nodded, flashing him a brief that I knew didn't quite reach my eyes- a trademark sign of insincerity. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay. Take your time, but you do know what information I need, don't you?" I inclined my head again. I knew all too well that in order to do what's best for me, he would need what's worst from me. An explicit account of what had happened.

* * *

_'Ugh... Where am I?' I think, lifting my head groggily and groaning from the ache in my head. I have no recollection of how I got here, only a vague idea of what I had been doing before I had gotten to this point. I had been in a bar... Drinking... Scotch? Or was it vodka? Either way, I was certain that I had only had a couple of shots of whatever alcohol it was, not nearly enough to cause the amount of pain I am experiencing. My eyes focus slightly, and I look around in shock as the interior of a car fills my vision. I suddenly remember the little Ford Focus that was parked outside the bar. Grey in colour, and the only reason I had taken note of it at all was because it was parked at such an angle that it was hard to get out of the car door.  
I am lying across the back seats of the car, and my eyes widen as I realise that my wrists are bound by something that cuts in to my skin, and a scrap of cloth around my mouth prevents me from talking. I groan again, louder this time, and a man turns round from the driver's seat. He wears his hood low, so I cannot see his eyes, only his square jaw and thin lips. _

"_Well good evening to you Ms. Brennan." He laughs, turning back round to focus on his driving. "How nice of you to join me." I want to correct him, to tell him that my name is __**Doctor **__Brennan, not Ms. Brennan. But I can't, and although I try to struggle I am too weak. 'Think!' I tell myself, putting the cogs in my brain to work. I consider all the symptoms, weakness, pain, memory loss... Was I drugged? Had he slipped something in to my drink?  
Wait... Had we been on a date? I strained my memory, trying to decipher what was important and what wasn't. Well, someone had definitely driven me to the bar. I'd left my car at home, I knew that much. _

"_What do you want from me?" I tried to mumble through my gag. My kidnapper lets out another bark of laughter, and answers my muffled question as if he has had lots of experience of this sort of thing._

"_Come on now Temperance." I hate the way my name sounds like bile on his lips. "You're a highly intelligent woman. Surely you can guess?" I want to throw up as I see the corners of his lips turn up in a twisted smile as he says that last part, and squeeze my eyes tightly shut in the hopes that this is all a terrible nightmare, similar to the ones I've had in the past. When I open my eyes, I will be safe and warm under my duvet, covered in a thin layer of sweat but otherwise unharmed. I open my eyes,but it has not worked. I am still gagged and bound in the back of a sick, twisted man's car.  
I start to cry._

"_I think this'll do." The driver of the car pulls over at the roadside, and my stomach twists in to knots as he switches off the engine, leaving the interior lights on to see properly. He climbs in to the back with me, and I try to wriggle away. He puts grips my arms firmly and twists me back round, so I am lying on my back looking up at him. For the first time, I see the hatred and the thirst in his brown eyes. I pushed against him as he straddled my legs, and he grinned at my pathetic attempts. _

"_C'mon, Temp... Is that the best you can do?"_

_Shut your eyes..._

_

* * *

_

_**Okay, I think I'm gonna leave it there for now. I don't really wanna do explicit . (plus I'd have to change the rating).  
I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave me a review (please? :D) and thanks for reading! **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Guys, I don't want to seem annoying by moaning at you all, but I work hard to write long and decent chapters for you guys, and barely any of you bother to even review! The less reviews I get, the less likely I am to continue, so please just leave me a sentence or two just so I know I'm not writing this story for nothing (:**_

___**Thank you so much to those of you that **_**have ****_reviewed; you guys are awesome :D_**

**_

* * *

_**

_Right here, right now,  
_

_Stand my ground and never back down.  
_

_I know what I believe inside,_

_I'm awake, and I'm alive._

_Booth  
_The anger that bubbled up inside of me while Bones choked out her painful story was _the _most ferocious and blinding emotion I had ever experienced.  
As soon as I was far enough from Brennan's room that the sound wouldn't carry, I slammed my clenched fist into the dry wall with all my might, tears of fury and guild starting to sting the backs of my eyes. 'How could I have let this happen?' Was my preliminary thought, but I quickly realised that pinning the blame on myself wasn't going to help anyone in the slightest- there was a sick, twisted bastard out there who had dared to lay a finger on my Bones; and for that I would make him pay.  
The shock of it all was only just beginning to sink in, and the sick, heart-thumping feelings that coursed through my bloodstream were not dissimilar to the way you feel when you accidentally miss a step, and fear you will fall for a moment.  
Of course, these feelings were magnified greatly beyond a simple adrenalin rush, and my head was spinning as I sank to my knees, only vaguely aware of the hand that had been placed on my shoulder.

"Booth? Are you okay?" Angela knelt down beside me, her eyes reddened from crying so much, which wasn't surprising considering the night she'd had.

"How can you..." I swallowed as my voice threatened to crack. "How can you even give a crap about how _I'm _feeling when Brennan's just been..." Raped. Just been raped. My voice trailed off again as I struggled to say the 'r' word without breaking down. A lone tear slid down Ange's cheek.

"The nurse gave her a sedative to relax her." She said, as if that made it all better. "She's sleeping now, so she doesn't have to deal with it all right this minute." I looked up, my gaze falling into her teary brown eyes that usually held so much warmth and happiness.

"So when _does _she have to deal with it?" I asked, getting to my feet and turning away. "When she wakes up screaming from the nightmares she will undoubtedly have? When she has to come face to face with that bastard again if we every get to court? How about when the story gets all over the news and people know her name for all the wrong reasons?" Angela put a hand on my shoulder.

"Booth, you and I both know how resilient Brennan is. She _will _get through this, it just..."

"Takes time." I completed her sentence for her, finally allowing my voice to crack; and angrily wiping away the tears that fell down my cheeks like droplets of rain from a storm cloud. Ange stared at me for a second, before enveloping me in a tight hug, burying her face into my chest and sobbing freely.  
Seconds, minutes ticked by with us hugging each other, crying over everything that had happened, and secretly revelling in the fact that both of us knew how the other felt.

* * *

"So how may I help you?" The Accident and Emergency's head of department -Mr. Roth- had a friendly tone and a reassuring smile, two qualities that I was not interested at that time. I held up

"I'm investigating the sexual assault and battery of Doctor Temperance Brennan." The words were still hard to say, and the Mr. Roth's smile faded as soon as the words had left my mouth.

"Ah, yes. I have been informed of a rape case in the ED tonight. Such a terrible thing to happen..." I nodded, trying to rush through the niceties to get more the information I needed.

"Yeah, I know. Listen, I need to see her medical files so I can get a full investigation on a way."

"Of course. Do you have a warrant?"

"No. However, I do have..." I reached into my inside pocket and drew out a piece of paper -folded twice so it could fit- and placed it on Roth's desk.

"...A document signed by Doctor Brennan herself giving me the right to have access to all her medical files." Roth nodded, and shuffled through a pile of neatly stacked files that were sitting to one side of his desk.

"I actually took the liberty of reviewing this case when I first came into work this morning." He said, pulling out a fairly thick file with 'TEMPERANCE BRENNAN' printed across the top. "If you do catch the perpetrator, you should have sufficient evidence to convict him purely from the information in this file." He held it out to me, and I took it with a hasty nod and a muttered 'thanks'. As I turned to leave, Roth spoke again.

"Oh, and Mr. Booth?" I turned back to face him, and he took off the glasses and placed them on the desk, sighing. His voice softened as he spoke. "When you see Ms. Brennan, please let her know that all the staff who know about this are praying for her.

* * *

'Bruising to ribcage and lower back' I muttered to myself as I read through the notes, not daring to look at the photographs attatched. 'Small marks that appear to be caused by the attacker's fingernails also on patient's lower back. Ligature marks to both wrists, suggesting the patient was bound. Light bruising to jaw, suggesting she was also gagged, along with heavier bruising around left eye that is consistent with someone who has been beaten.' I clenched my fist angrily. 'Abrasion to forehead, and a split lip; both of these had ceased bleeding by the time the patient came to ED, and didn't appear to need stitching. The patient appeared to be experiencing shock, and seemed to be struggling with her emotions.' _Struggling with her emotions? _'The patient agreed to undergo an internal examination and was administered fluids and Pethidine, an analgesic to help ease her pain.  
'The patient had bled vaginally from the alleged assault; swabs of blood were sent for further tests and came back from the laboratory positive for semen, along with internal swabs that had also turned positive. There appeared to be some vaginal tearing and bruising, along with minor internal injury- the patient appeared to have struggled, but the marks on her skin suggest she was held down as the perpetrator penetrated her vaginally. The patient was given emergency contraceptives, and a sample of blood was taken to complete a toxicology screen- this later came back positive for the alcohol and the anaesthetic Ketamine. The patient appears to have either willingly taken the drug, or have had her drink spiked.' Ketamine. Also known as Ket, Special K, Kit Kat, Purple- or a million other things, this drug could be the reason that Bones had very little recollection as to how she came to be in the bastard's car. I snapped the file shut, and slid my cell phone from my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Cam?"

"Seeley, you'd better have a good excuse for being late. Are you with Doctor Brennan and Angela?" I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, and I need you to do something for me."

"Mmm?"

"Tell the team we've got ourselves a new case."

"Are you at the crime scene?"

"Not quite. It's a sexual assault case." There was a slight pause.

"But we investigate murders, not sexual assault. By the time we come by the remains, they're usually too decomposed for us to determine any traces of rape."

"I know. Just tell them, will you?"

"Seeley, is everything all right?" I was struggling to keep the immense anger I was feeling out of my voice.

"It's Brennan."

"What?"

"She was attacked last night!" I exploded, still clutching Bones' medical file with an iron grip. Silence.

"Is she okay?"

"No, of course she's not 'okay'! Look, I just need you and the team to get down here as soon as possible, okay? We'll catch that bastard."

"Of course, we'll come right away. Listen, Seeley?"

"What?"

"Don't do anything… Hasty, okay? I know it's awful, but Brennan probably needs you to just be there as a friend right now, not as her superman." I mumbled a 'goodbye' and hung up, trying to resist the urge to hurl the phone halfway across the room. Brennan stirred under the sheets of her hospital bed, where she had been sound asleep for the past couple of hours. The nurse had convinced me that right now, nothing could wake her, so I was free to pace up and down the room as I pleased.

Angela had gone home to take a shower and grab a cup of'real coffee'; according to her the stuff hospitals sell would serve better as toilet water.  
Personally, nothing could make me leave Bones' bedside, but I was hardly surprised at Angela for wanting some space. After all, she'd been reluctant to leave in the first place, and she said she'd be back as soon as she could.

I took a seat by Brennan's bed, and took her limp hand in my own, caressing her skin with my thumb. I began talking to her, just so I knew that if she was even vaguely conscious, she'd know that she wasn't alone.

* * *

_**A/N: I swear to God, if I don't get many reviews again I'm putting this one on hold for a while :P  
Thanks for reading, sorry for any mistakes- I didn't have time to go through it carefully.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone. Before you get excited, this isn't Kaia. I'm Ely, her best friend. Well, one of them (the other being 'Your Worst Nightmare -x-', a really lovely person and a talented writer).  
If you know Kaia personally, or have even read her profile, then you will know that she suffers from Huntington's Chorea, which is a genetic and progressive illness.

Anyway, she's gotten worse recently, and the last couple of days she's been in hospital and neither me or Erin (Nightmare) really know what's going on with that.  
She's still getting reviews on her stories though, and I thought it might be a good idea to let you know why she won't be updating for a while…

So please leave a review for her telling her how much she means to you (even if you don't really know her) because if… _When_ she gets out of hospital it'd be nice for her to be able to read all the messages and know that someone _actually _cares.  
It would mean a lot to all of us.  
I know most people will read this and not bother, and personally I think that's rather twatish of you if you're one of those people who'll think 'I don't needs to bother, somebody else will do it'. If everyone had that state of mind, nothing would ever get done.  
C'mon, don't be a twat.

Even if it's only for a couple of minutes; a couple of seconds even, please hold her in your thoughts today. Because we really want her to get better, Erin and I, and I'm sure you do too.

Thank you.

Oh, and sorry if I spell some things wrong… Spell check on Microsoft Word 2010 seems to be a little fucked up.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everyone.

I know you expected this to be a long chapter with many apologies and half-hearted excuses but it isn't. There's nothing fake about this.

Kaia A'ala Rhea Lombardi passed away on Friday the 22nd July at 3:22 am with her son and brother in her arms. I know she promised to try and finish these but she never did, and there were no documents on her computer

I hope you see this as Kaia's goodbye and also just an informative, but Kaia didn't really leave us with instructions with what to do when she left, we knew it was coming but we never asked her what to do with her fics. It crossed my mind that we should continue them but only briefly, it would be an insult to her talent.

Well, here it is then. The last chapter of any of Kaia's stories ever, unless her laptop harbours some documents, but she spent her last weeks in palliative care, saying goodbye to her friends and declining treatment

She was an inspiration and a perfect friend to everyone who ever met her, she always had a bright outlook, whether it was her brother and his goldfish obsession or telling us that one of her doctor's was really hot.

This is Erin and Ely, signing off for Kaia for one last time.

We won't deactivate this account, but there will be no more updates. All reviews and alerts go to Ely now and we'll appreciate every message of comfort we may receive because knowing Kaia and then losing her hurts more than it's imaginable

Good luck with your own writing, and… goodbye.

Ely and Erin


End file.
